For the second time in a row, Walter Botass became the winner of the F1 sprint competition. The Mercedes driver will start the race from pole position tomorrow, while his teammate Lewis Hamilton will start the tenth.
Before the sprint race in Brazil, the teams had to decide whether to start with soft or medium tires. The Botass and Ferrari drivers went on the Interlagos track in São Paulo with soft tires marked in red, while the Red Bull drivers and Hamilton in the last position chose the most durable medium tires.
At the start, Botass missed Verstapen. A great first lap was also given to Ferrari drivers. Carlos Saincs took third place after the first turns, but a moment later was also passed by Verstapen. For a long time, however, the Spanish driver was unable to stay in second place. Verstapen overtook him and began chasing Bot. The leaderboard was less than a second away, but failed to overtake. As a result, at the start of the São Paulo Grand Prix in the first row will be the same riders in the sprint, only in changed roles.
The choice in favor of soft tires was justified. They did not wear out so quickly because the air temperature was relatively low. Sainc held third for Peres. Meanwhile, Louis Hamilton finished fifth. During the trip, he performed several beautiful overtaking maneuvers, including the last lap with Lando Noris, who had to compete on his 22nd birthday. After five starting places will be penalized for changing the engine, Hamilton will start the race from the 10th position.
One of the main losers was Pierre Gazli. After giving in to Charles Clecker, the AlphaTauri shine finished eighth – four places below the qualifier.
After contact with a team member Kimi Raikonen slipped. The veteran managed to overtake both Haas riders, so he will start from the 18th place.
For the victory in the São Paulo GP sprint, Botass scored three points, Verstapens for two and Saincs for 1 point. This means that Verstapen is now 21 points apart from Hamilton. Meanwhile, Mercedes have doubled their lead over Red Bull (from one to two points).
São Paulo GP – sprints
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